The World Health Organisation is to teach Irish doctors and examine their beliefs about abortion.

The initiative, to help prepare them for providing legal terminations from next month, comes as the Department of Health asked the HSE to make sure abortion services would be available in all 19 maternity hospitals from January.

The Future Abortionists of America
Abortions are simple procedures, yet fewer than 0.2% of U.S. doctors perform them. Meet the new guard trying to improve access for all.

Malcolm Harris
Sep 4, 2018

A sign in the lobby of the Philadelphia hotel read:

THERE ARE NO EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY
Please enjoy your day!

Meanwhile, in the ballroom upstairs, a significant portion of America’s current and future abortion providers were eating breakfast. The fake-out sign was one of multiple security measures, but the atmosphere at the Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) national conference still hummed with energy. Over the course of a day and a half, 450-plus medical students tried to absorb as much information as possible about providing abortions, information that — depending on where they go to school — can be extremely difficult to get. The vast majority of attendees were women in their early twenties. When the organization’s executive director Lois Backus announced that one of the two men’s rooms would defect for the weekend, an involuntary cheer passed through the audience, followed by laughter.

Well, now we know—President Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill Justice Kennedy’s U.S. Supreme Court seat. When Justice Kennedy announced he’ll retire at the end of July, there was a collective panic attack on the part of thousands of us who work to protect reproductive rights.

Kennedy was seen as a centrist and a critical “swing vote” on the court. In the early 1990s and again in 2016, he voted to preserve Roe v. Wade. What’s burning in my mind and the minds of so many of my colleagues and compatriots is Trump’s vow to ensure the Court has another justice who’s against abortion rights.

“Whatever’s your darkest question, you can ask me.”
A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions.

March 28, 2018
By Lizzie Presser

On a winter morning, Anna* walked the aisles of an herbal-medicine store, picked up a bottle each of blue cohosh and black cohosh, along with a plastic bag of pennyroyal tea, and drove to the topless bar on the edge of town where she worked. There, she met Jules, another dancer. They performed on a small stage with crystal curtains, the green light of an ATM flashing on their left, until 9 p.m. The women, both in their 20s, then drove to the Motel 6 where Jules lived and entered her dim room on the second floor, which smelled of grape cigars. Anna pulled out the tinctures and tea and explained the plan. She was going to help Jules try to have an abortion.

I made two phone calls the moment I found out I was pregnant: one to my best friend and one to my OB-GYN's office. I figured if anyone could tolerate me repeatedly saying "no f*cking way,” it would be my BFF. And if anyone knew anything about ending an unwanted pregnancy, it would be my gynecologist. After all, abortion is a common, safe, and legal medical procedure, which is why I never thought to ask, "Can my OB-GYN provide an abortion?"

But, much to my surprise, my doctor couldn't. I am embarrassed to admit I didn't push the issue and ask her why (to be fair, I was pretty distracted at the time). She still gave me plenty of information and a great referral, but it turns out my experience is common.

One in four pregnancies worldwide ends in an abortion, which can be a very risky procedure if botched by an untrained provider. Yet, close to half of all abortions done worldwide are unsafe, killing 47,000 women and disabling another 5 million every year.

Of the 55.7 million abortions that occurred worldwide each year between 2010 and 2014, the most recent period for which data are available, only 30.6 million (54.9%) were safe, found a review of data from 182 countries. Of the 25.1 million unsafe abortions, 17.1 million were less safe and 8 million very unsafe, found a study published in The Lancet in September.